Image: @Knight Theatre on Facebook
From Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, 2026, Knight Theatre presented “Big Fish” to a sniffling audience of campus theatregoers and De Pere locals. Shows were performed in St. Norbert College’s Webb Theatre at 7:30 p.m. until the final 2:00 p.m. show on Sunday.
“Big Fish” is a musical adapted from Tim Burton’s 2003 film of the same name. It is based on Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel “Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions,” which was then brought to screens and theatres through the writing of John August. Interspersed with musical numbers by Andrew Lippa, the movie and musical navigate the fraught relationship between father Edward Bloom (freshman Matthew Brand) and son William Bloom (sophomore Wesley Davis).
However, this is no typical family drama; Edward colorfully exaggerates his life stories to his son, who feels that he does not truly know his father. After Edward is diagnosed with cancer, William scrambles to uncover the truth behind his father’s fantastical lore. Full of quirky characters and fun musical numbers, the musical is far from dreary until glimpses of reality shine through. Then, the tears start streaming.
Directed by junior Tyler Blom and produced by Knight Theatre president senior Samantha Czekala, St. Norbert’s rendition of "Big Fish" features a smaller cast to accommodate for the number of performers. This certainly did not interfere with the sincere core of the story.
“'Big Fish' has been my favorite musical for a while now,” writes Czekala. “When we were deciding what show to do this year, I knew that Knight Theatre could do it well and that audiences would enjoy it.”
“With that being said, the show that we had by the end of the month absolutely exceeded my wildest expectations, and that is thanks to the hard work of all of our amazing directors, cast members, pit musicians, designers and crew.”
Czekala also thanked Knight Theatre advisor Molly Lucareli, who worked on “getting the license for the show,” “setting up ticketing,” and “overseeing the production as a whole.”
“I was inspired to audition since I was in last year's show 'Company' and I had such a great experience. I had already seen the movie which 'Big Fish' was based upon many years ago, since it is one of my mom's favorite movies,” says sophomore Wesley Davis, who starred as son William Bloom. “It meant a lot for me to be able to tell this story which I knew meant so much to her, and which I knew would be able to emotionally touch our audiences if we did it right.”
Davis adds, “My favorite thing was when I could hear people sniffling in the audience. It made me so happy to know that our emotions onstage were being conveyed and felt by the whole room.”
Junior trackstar Kyra Kopec played The Witch, one of the key figures in Edward’s stories. The musical was a “perfect fit” for Kopec, who had to stay on campus over J-term for track and field.
“It takes crazy to play crazy. In my past two productions with Knight Theatre, ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ and ‘Big Fish,’ I’ve often played the eccentric woman who loves talking about death a little too much. While watching the movie ‘Big Fish’ to prepare for this role, I realized The Witch exists within a child’s imagination — limitless and ever-changing — which gave me the freedom to be bold, wild and kooky with the character,” Kopec explains.
Kopec also led marketing efforts for the play. “I had the best experience getting to scratch that creative itch by designing media and hanging out with other thespians while making silly Instagram Reels,” she remarks.
Freshman Ella Viera and junior Allison Younk took on the roles of Sandra Bloom and Josephine, the wives of the two leads. “I loved being a part of the cast for 'Big Fish!' Everyone was so welcoming,” says Viera, who acted as a mother, love interest and grieving wife. “Getting to play Sandra was amazing because she has so many deep and emotional moments that I was able to build up.”
Younk’s role was that of a consistently supportive wife and mother. “I relate to Josephine in the sense that I am very caring and nurturing of the people I love, and that was very evident in ‘Big Fish' as Josephine tries to encourage Will, her husband, to have an open mind about his father's 'fantastical’ stories. I really honed in on that aspect of my own personality to bring that care and intent on stage.”
For more information on future performances from Knight Theatre, visit my.snc.edu/knighttheatre.